Communication devices are ubiquitous in our society. Besides a telephone at home and at work, many people also have other devices such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, an interactive pager (i-pager), a laptop computer, or the like. Unlike a landline telephone, these other communication devices may travel with the user. In addition, these other devices may be turned-on and turned-off.
A user with a mobile device may turn-off the device for many reasons. The user may desire to conserve the battery of the device. Sometimes circumstances dictate that the mobile device be turned-off. Many people turn-off their mobile phones when they are driving to avoid the temptation of answering calls, and thus, using the mobile phones while driving. Other people turn-off their mobile devices while attending meetings, or while participating in public events or gatherings where use of the mobile devices would be perceived as impolite or inconsiderate with respect to others. Sometimes, a person may turn-off his or her mobile device simply to avoid being disturbed. In other cases, a person may inadvertently turn-off his or her device and may not realize it.
Once a person turns-off his or her mobile device, the person cuts himself or herself off from people who may desire to communicate with him or her through the mobile device. For example, when I turn off my mobile phone, people who try to reach me using my mobile number are unable to do so. At times, the inability to reach a person who has turned off his or her mobile device may simply be inconvenient. At other times, the unavailability of the person through the mobile device may be disadvantageous, unfortunate, or even devastating to either the user, the caller, or both.
It may be devastating to the caller to be unable to reach a person on his or her turned-off mobile device because the caller may be having an emergency. The caller may have suffered a car accident, incurred some injury, or be threatened in some way. In other words, the caller may be in need of help and unable to reach the person with the turned-off mobile device for such help.
The inability to contact the person who turned off his or her mobile device may be disadvantageous or even disastrous for that person, too. For example, a family member who is keeping up with weather conditions in the person's area may have information regarding the need to evacuate the area immediately such as in the case of a tornado or hurricane. But the family member may be frustrated in his or her attempts to convey information on the emergency situation to the person because his or her mobile device is turned-off. The family member may suffer anguish in not knowing whether the person is safe or even aware of the weather emergency. If the person remains unaware of the weather conditions, the person may be in a life threatening situation.
Thus, there is a need for methods to reach a person whose mobile device is turned-off. In particular, there is a need for methods to remotely power-on the mobile device so that a communication may be put through to the mobile device.
Similarly, there are circumstances where it would be convenient or important to be able to turn-off a remote mobile device that has been powered-on. For example, a person may have left his or her mobile device at home while traveling. There is little point for the mobile device to be powered-on when the user is remote from the device. It would be convenient for the person to be able to remotely turn-off the powered-on mobile device. As another example, a person may have a powered-on mobile device and be in a situation where a call to the device would be embarrassing, disturbing, or even dangerous. If another party knew of the situation, it would be desirable for the other party to be able to turn-off the powered-on device in the person's possession.
In sum, there is a need for remote control over mobile devices. In particular, there is a need for methods to remotely power-on a mobile device so that a communication may be put through to the mobile device. There is also a need for methods to remotely turn-off a mobile device that is powered-on. There is also a need to determine if a user is authorized to power-on or power-off a mobile device.